WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate Banking Committee is expected to wait to hold a hearing for the nomination of a community banker to the Federal Reserve until the White House moves to fill the central bank’s other open seat, according to people familiar with the matter.

Waiting gives committee Chairman Richard Shelby more time and options to put his stamp on the central bank, as the Fed still has a seventh empty board seat to fill. Another vacancy at the Fed board is the vice chairman for Supervision, a position created by the 2010 financial reform law known as Dodd-Frank that the White House has yet to fill.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on
Thursday announced a settlement with online course provider edX
Inc over allegations its platform was not accessible to would-be
students who were blind, deaf or had other physical
disabilities.

The DOJ said its four-year agreement requires edX to modify
its website, platform and mobile applications to meet industry
accessibility guidelines. It also required edX to work on that
issue with entities that create and post courses.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Online home-rental marketplace Airbnb Inc now offers properties in Cuba, the company said on Thursday, as it looks to capitalize on an expected travel boom resulting from the normalizing of relations between the United States and the Communist-run nation.

President Barack Obama has loosened some Cold War-era travel restrictions, allowing Americans to visit the Caribbean island for a range of reasons, such as family visits or education.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey has been advised by federal officials that he is likely to face corruption-related criminal charges, perhaps as soon as Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Menendez is the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A second source familiar with the matter said any criminal charges would be brought by federal prosecutors in Florida.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department filed a
lawsuit on Monday against Southeastern Oklahoma State
University, alleging the school discriminated against a
transgender assistant professor.

The DOJ said it also sued the Regional University System of
Oklahoma. The department said Rachel Tudor was denied a
promotion because of her gender identity and retaliated against
after she complained.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, will run for the U.S. Senate in 2016, saying in a video posted to her website on Monday that she would “fight my heart out” for constituents.

Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost both legs in a helicopter crash, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012 and previously was an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The discovery of a trove of thousands of emails reinvigorated a long-running inquiry by U.S. House of Representatives Republicans into the Internal Revenue Service’s handling of tax-exempt conservative political groups.

U.S. officials told lawmakers late on Thursday that investigators had found 32,774 emails linked to former IRS official Lois Lerner, a key figure in a scandal that broke in 2013. But the emails’ importance was still unclear.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Tuesday defended U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald after he apologized for falsely saying he served in the U.S. special forces, but a top Republican said the incident could hurt trust in the department.

McDonald said he recently met a homeless man in Los Angeles who said he served in the special forces. McDonald said he incorrectly responded that he had also served there. The exchange aired on the CBS Evening News.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Monday
argued that halting President Barack Obama’s executive actions
on immigration from taking effect threatens national security,
in a request for an emergency stay to put on hold a Texas
judge’s decision that temporarily blocked the actions.

The Department of Homeland Security would sustain
“irreparable harm” if a stay is not granted, the Justice
Department argued in its request.